fuel for series 3 petrol 88" swb hard top

hi
i have just got a series 3 88" swb hard top which i think could be ex RAF?I think it was in the services as its got a oil cooler in front of the radiator.It was also RAF blue under the bonnet and on the bulk head when i repaired the corners on the bulhead.Its a 1983 4 cyl petrol and seems to be the original engine.Will it run on leaded or unleaded?

That depends. I assume it's a 2.25.
If so it will, only if the head has had hardened valve seats fitted, who knows if that's been done.....
I believe the first petrol engine to run on unleaded was the 2.5 petrol, but others might know more.

I have a 1983 (Y) 88" SWB station wagon 2.25 petrol and that runs on unleaded.

Is there any way of finding this out, i.e. by lifting rocker cover?

Dom

Does it really matter?

All will physically run on unleaded (you might need to retard the timing). The only thing that'll happen is it might wear the valve seats out, but this will be progressive and not instant and take many 1000's of miles to occur.

If this is going to be your daily driver that you'll do 12,000 - 15,000 miles a year in, then yes it's worth sorting it. If however you are more likely to do 1000-1500 miles a year in it, then I wouldn't worry.

Run it on unleaded until it breaks, then fix it or buy another engine, I've seen 2.25's go for as little as £25 on ebay in the past. It's seriously not worth forking out big money to begin with.